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September 2012 Spain Match
Match Setting The kick-off match for the UEFA World Cup Qualifiers pits Bosnia and Herzegovina against the best international team in the world, Spain. Both teams get here needed for success, as the Bosnians have been growing year after year and they expect to be competitive enough in order to get to the playoff phase of the Qualifiers. Spain, in the other hand, after a great couple of years, had an aweful dissapointint UEFA Euro Cup failing to qualify from the group phase. After that, they dismissed coach Vicente del Bosque and hired the natural successor, Josep Guardiola. FIFA World Cup Qualifiers 'Group 2' Squad The squad was announced on September 2nd and consisted of 23 players, with a focus on players on non-Adriatic clubs, only Muhamed Subasic plays in the Adriatic Superleague. It consisted on 3 GK, 8 Defensemen (4 Fullbacks and 4 Center Backs), 8 Midfielders (2 Defensive Midfielders, 4 Central Midfielders and 2 Attacking Midfielders), and 4 Strikers. Hoffenheim was the most represented team, with 2 players, while the Ligue 1 and Bundesliga, were the most represented leagues with 3 players each. There were no players without international caps. The squad list is after the break: 23-man Squad Missing Players Ermin Zec has still around 3 weeks left, to recover from his knee injury. Ognjen Vranjes has an hernia causing him trouble, he has stll 3 weeks more to recover fully. Admir Ljevakovic has 6 weeks left to recover from a knee cartilage injury. Tactics Branislav Mikulic took a very conservative approach to this game, placing in the midfielder positions 3 players (Berberovic, Svraka and Cocalic whose characteristics are to recover the ball efficiently and distribute it quickly to an offensive player. The Attacking Midfielder was the teams' playmaker and the two classic forwards were up front. The detail of the positions and roles is in the table that follows. Result and Analysis Spain won the match 2-0 Analysis In a very loopsided match, the Spaniards dominated from the beginning and won fairly by a two goal margin. Mikulic's tactic worked at 50%, as the midfielders indeed recovered the ball and stopped Spain at the start, but Pjanic didn't have a very good game, which hurt the Bosnian chances to get the ball to Ibisevic and Dzeko, who both looked very lonely up top. Spain played their classic game, and found the two goals in the first half. Andrés Iniesta took advantage of a great Jesús Navas cross to score with a header on the 37th minute, and six minutes later, David Villa scored on a nice shot from the right part of the 6-yard box. The second half was very boring with a Bosnian team who couldn't get the ball and the Spaniards without much precission. Important Stats Possession % = 53-47 Passes Completed % = 81-85 Shots = 4-16 Clear Cut Chances = 0-2 Long Shots = 1-4 Individual Performances David Villa was the man of the match with a great performance, capped with a goal that already is a leading candidate for goal of the year. Asmir Begovic was Bosnia's best performer with a couple of nice saves.